My thoughts or two cents worth. In early New Netherland people had first names they did not have surnames, but others called them sons or daughters of their fathers name. (I think most of us will agree on this.) ie. Pieterse is son of Pieter; Janse is son of Jan. The most common Dutch naming custom was that of patronymics, or identification of an individual based on the father's name. The patronymic was formed by adding -se, -sen, or szen. Daughters would very often have the ending -x or -dr added. There are a few good books written on this subject and can be found at any Library, also several places on the web have Dutch naming patterns. Some were also known by the place they came from, ie VAN WOGGELUM. Personally, I think the Dutch of New Netherland followed this custom until forced by the English to stop. Lettered genealogists and historians will use naming patterns often. The patronymic system must be understood in order to reseach ancestors in New Netherland. One genealogist sent the following to me. "The individual has a given name, say Margriet, which was followed by the name of her father, Jan, plus a suffix, giving you something like Janse, Jansz, or Jansen. That patronymic surname changed with every generation, as Jan's sons became fathers and their given names became patronymics in turn. Now you want to know that first sons were customarily named for their paternal grandfathers, so you can see in some families an alternating procession of Jan Dirckse, Dirk Janse, and so on in alternating name orders. The second son was given the maternal grandfather's given name. This gets confusing when all cousins of a generation have the same first name, but then look at their patronymic, which will be different. Daughters were named for grandparents in the same order. For both, after grandparent's names are used, names are derived from the given names of brothers and sisters, in descending order of age. These naming practices are the strongest clues, if all known children of a coupld are listed in order. Names also came from geography. Let's take a man who lived in the town of Niskayuna, in the county of Schenectady, in the state of New York. Under the custom of that early day, he could use any of those as name sources: van Niskayuna, van Schenectady, van New York, or "the American". The early Bratt family was also known as the Normans, because they were from Norway. One of their sons, Storm, used the last name Vanderzee because he was born at sea, 'of the sea'. Some people used an occupational name, which English also does, like Zimmerman, carpenter. Some had a personal characteristic like red hair, which became their name. A good one is the name SOEGEMAKELYK, meaning so easy going, a good name for an innkeeper! Their geographic name was Van Woggelum, so you see them using that as an alias. The first ones were Pieter and Jacob Adriaense, showing the patronymic." For an example, take a look at the children of Jan Mangelse. Can pick up clues for researching ancestor's names. 1. Antje Janse Roll (was she named for paternal grandmother???) 2. Mangel Janse Roll - named for paternal grandfather 3. Tryntje Janse Roll (was she named for maternal grandmother???) 4. Pieter Janse Roll - named for maternal grandfather 5. Johannes Janse Roll - named for father Nancy